Saturday, 30 June 2012

I had thought I was going to watch the broadcast version of this episode -- I usually do with things, first time round (see: Neon Genesis Evangelion. (I say "see" -- I watched that before I started this blog.)). But goodness knows when second-time-round might be, and this particular extended version makes a regular episode feature-length, with 26½ minutes of added material.

According to executive producer Ronald D. Moore, this is "an 'editor's cut'... the starting point for cutting down the episode to the standard length... while it offers a lot more details on the characters, it is a rough cut (unlike the Pegasus extended cut). He considers some scenes better and some worse than in the final cut, sometimes preferring story points only being told by implication and not spelled out. He thinks some scenes may be too long, with the ideal cut maybe somewhere between the two." (There's also an odd situation with the episode's music score, which you can read about in a little more detail here.) So my decision to watch the longer version was based on the premise that if neither's perfect, I may as well see the one with more material.

It certainly felt like quite an epic episode -- in character terms, anyway -- dealing with a lot of long-standing issues (even if the viewer didn't know about all of them yet). Moore also notes that there was "a faster pace in the aired version", so it would be interesting to see the contrast. Hopefully someday there'll be a second-time-round and I can watch it then.

I am ever so happy about this news! Kleinman designed all the Bond title sequences from GoldenEye to Casino Royale (those two in particular being amongst the finest the entire series has to offer), but was replaced on Quantum of Solace by the director's preferred effects company... who turned in a woeful, uninspired sequence that may be among the franchise's worst. Hopefully Kleinman will be on full form and deliver something incredible once again.

If you're interested in movies' box office grosses (which I am, at least a bit), then here's an interesting preview/analysis of the next month's films. That includes the likes of The Dark Knight Rises (will it best The Dark Knight? Can it possibly beat The Avengers?); The Amazing Spider-Man (can it equal Sam Raimi's trilogy? Will it get lost in DKR build-up?); Ice Age: Continental Drift (as only the second animated series ever to reach a fourth entry, coming behind two very successful CG 'toons already this year, is it doomed?); and, of course, more (all of which will almost certainly be less successful).

Easiest way to explain this intriguing work is from the article itself:

One of the more mysterious stories in the world of the literary James Bond is that of the little-known 007 novel The Killing Zone by Jim Hatfield. [It] appeared in 1985 -- the year official continuation novelist John Gardner had off -- and claims on its copyright page to be officially licensed by Glidrose Publications (now Ian Fleming Publications). But this book is far from official.

The final part of Century begins with Orlando. S/he's been an increasingly big presence in the books -- a lot of background material in Black Dossier, then one of the three leads throughout Century -- but this is the first time the focus has really moved from Mina (and Allan). It remains odd, but his/her increased presence has kind of earnt it.

It also contributes towards his/her character arc. Indeed, if there's one thing I'd note about Century's contribution to the series, it's the focus on character. All three leads undergo significant emotional changes throughout this series, more so than in previous ones I'd say, a lot of it focusing on their varied experiences of immortality. Those seeking an action/adventure book with pop-culture super-beings could probably care less, but despite being that on the surface, LoEG has never been about that -- the much-hated film proved that.

That's not to say the final chapter isn't without incident. I won't go spoiling stuff in case anyone who hasn't read it yet reads this, but the involvement of Harry Potter has received some press attention so there's no point trying to hide it. The stuff at Hogwarts is brilliant, though I'd argue Moore could occasionally do with remembering he's rendering a comic, not a storyboard -- there's a stream of panels that mirror each other very nicely, but putting them in blocks of three (rather than two or four) mucks this up slightly, in my opinion. Maybe he and O'Neill were trying to avoid making it too heavy-handed, but it's a deliberate parallel and the layout obscures it.

Then there's the Big Climax. Two things: firstly, it's good to see Allan turn up again here. He's barely in 2009. That said, when he does turn up his limited page-time is put to good use, with a particularly dramatic mini-arc. No spoilers on the end of it though. That said, I imagine this is quite possibly the end of the ongoing adventures of the League -- Moore has discussed doing other stories in already-established backstory, which is a grand idea because there are so many asides that could be more deeply explored there (and it might placate those who never liked the series' move into the 20th Century). Plus, having tackled the biggest franchise in modern media with the climax to this volume, perhaps it's a wise idea to not keep moving on. That said, there's an unresolved note at the end of this story -- I'm sure we all want to know what that's about!

Secondly (I got distracted there, but this is indeed "secondly"), the person who turns up at the climax of the climax to defeat the villain is genius. Well done on that one, Mr Moore. I loved it.

After three years of waiting and saving-up volumes of Century, I thought it was worth the wait. It's a different kind of story to previous League instalments, and certainly moves at a different pace. But hey, it's presented differently -- three long segments instead of six regular-sized ones, and, compared to most current comics, it comes out at nearly 11 issues of material. Can't sniff at that. But I can understand some of the objections to the series moving away from the style of the firsttwo volumes, because that was great, but Moore and O'Neill are pushing the concept in interesting directions, and that's exciting and entertaining in its own way. You can always re-read the first two after all.

But it really will be interesting to see where they go next, whether that's back into the old style or increasingly pushing on.

I'm not especially excited for The Amazing Spider-Man, but I'm not desperate for it to be a failure in the way some fans of Raimi's previous trilogy seem to be. Considering Spider-Man was a huge superhero success, and the first film fullstop to have a $100m+ opening weekend, this one's looking surprisingly overshadowed, tucked between The Avengers (which has already claimed the first $200m+ opening) and The Dark Knight Rises (more likely to challenge that number, though without 3D is unlikely to do so).

Either way, this slagging off is a good read, entertainingly highlighting a myriad of problems with the film. It makes it sound, like I've heard in some other reviews, "fine" -- not bad per se, just uninspired (especially compared to Raimi's first) and consequently uexciting.

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

There should have been more this week (even with four titles turning up this morning), but TheHut have been typically tardy in sending out a recent order for several titles. Still, this morning's delivery is quite a boost -- though lower still than it might've been, because I finally got round to removing a couple of DVD box sets.

Thursday, 28 June 2012

Battlestar Galactica [2004]3x07 A Measure of Salvation3x08 HeroIt's been nearly 18 months since I last watched Galactica -- oops, that wasn't meant to happen! I tried reading the episode summary at that link to remind me where I was, but it didn't really help, so instead just settled down to watch the episode and hope the "previously on"s would do the trick. And thank frak for those, they did. Shame I didn't manage one more episode before my accidental abandonment, though, because that really wrapped up the ongoing stories (for the time being, anyway) before apparently moving on to more episodic tales with Hero.

Wednesday, 27 June 2012

Dexter5x06 Everything is IllumenatedHalfway through the season and what one might think was the premise has been established. Interesting change of pace, and I presume therefore they still have somewhere different to go with it. Personally, though they'd reach this point was pretty inevitable, I think it's working.

Despite being set 59 years later, Paint It Black picks up where What Keeps Mankind Alive? left off in the investigation of Oliver Haddo and his attempts to take over the world with a Moonchild. (Aside: it would be interesting to read the League in chronological order, as the main story part of Black Dossier takes place between the first two parts of Century.)

While the first part almost functioned as a standalone tale, this is very much the next instalment of a longer story -- an Empire Strikes Back, if you will, that does have its own contained narrative but also ends on a devastating cliffhanger. The League is all but gone as the book begins, and as it ends it's certainly destroyed, with one member completely missing (both to the characters and to the reader), so it'll be interesting to see where 2009 picks things up.

I didn't find it to be as satisfying a read as 1910, perhaps, though there's some very nice character stuff about how Mina is coping with immortality. O'Neill's art seems to be scratchier and rougher than usual to me, which is a shame -- it looks positively rushed in places, rendering things too cartoonish -- but he pulls off the crazy climax well nonetheless. Maybe it's excused by rendering the psychedelic world of the '60s, but the gangland stuff feels sketchy too. Hopefully he's returned to his usual level of preciseness on 2009.

Last time I forgot to discuss Minions of the Moon, the three-part prose story that closes every issue of Century. It's surprisingly followable. Not what one might call "readable" -- it's still prose by Moore, after all -- but it's far from his densest, most frustrating work. And it's another League-related story, set largely in the '60s, so that's a plus. Will it fill in any gaps from the main story? That remains to be seen...

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

Hitler's ChildrenA one-off documentary about "the descendants of the most powerful figures in the Nazi regime" (so, not literally Hitler's children). I stumbled across it during the Sign Zone last night and was quickly engrossed. It's a fascinating look about the various ways such people have coped with the horrendous events in their families' pasts.[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

It's a regular screengrab from regular Alien, which means it's in 2D -- but it demonstrates well the three-dimensionality of regular film; and, therefore, by implication, why "3D" as it's currently promoted is just a gimmick rather than a necessary tool.

And aside from that point, the brief article is just a good breakdown of how much a single frame can potentially convey about an entire scene, or movie, or even career.

I've been waiting years to read this: I read (andreviewedinsixparts) the third League title, Black Dossier, four years ago this month; I've had this opening book of Century since it came out in 2009; but the third (and final) part came out this week, and turned up in my post today, so I'm finally settling down to read it (over three days is my plan).

It takes a different structural form for League: whereas the first two were traditional six-issue miniseries, and the third a mixed-format book, Century exists as three standalone-but-connected books. This first is 72 pages, or the equivalent of three 24-page issues, so I guess that makes it three three-parters or one nine-parter. It's nice to mix things up.

It's a form that works here: without spoiling anything, there's a definite story that begins and concludes within the book itself, while events are set in motion that will obviously continue through the next two volumes. It's as entertaining as the rest of the League stories too, for my money, with the usual heady mix of horror, violence, humour, adventure, and some song now too. There's a new League, one that has obviously been working together for a little while, and that keeps things moving and entertaining for the reader. While Moore does mix in a few cultural reference points and a bit of filling-the-gaps-in-League-history, it's mostly slotted in around the story, unlike Black Dossier which some criticised for foregrounding it.

Anyway, the important thing is I enjoyed it, and I look forward to seeing it develop over the next two instalments.

How many clips are too many clips? Probably when you can construct a TWENTY-FIVE MINUTE MINI-MOVIE from them. That's what Vimeo user SleepySkunk has done. He has taken all of the legally, publically available footage from The Amazing Spider-Man and edited it together linearly into a short film that essentially gives you the entire movie.

Sunday, 24 June 2012

Dexter5x05 First BloodIt's been 10 months since I last watched Dexter (in which time FX have not only finished airing it, they've aired all of the next season too), but now that there's not much else on I can get back to it.And thank goodness for its solid "previously on" too, because without it I was struggling to remember what was going on, and with it I'm fully back up to speed. I knew I'd appreciate those things one day.

MythBusters5x17 Superhero Hour5x16 Red Rag to a Bull5x18 Myth EvolutionThe episode about superhero stuff was pretty cool. Nearly didn't watch the second one -- I know bulls don't care about red; you know how a bull in a china shop is going to turn out -- but the other half of the episode, about bullets in ovens/on campfires, was cool... and it turns out a bull in a china shop isn't so obvious after all. And then the third one goes for a load of stuff they missed, according to fans, which fortunately meant it was more packed with stuff than usual. I like Mythbusters, but damn it's full of repetitious recaps.

Would I Lie To You?6x08 Episode 8Why the BBC have hung on to this until now I don't know. The outtakes episode, sure, they often air that later, but just a single regular episode of the series? Why?[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

what one might call Proper Science Fiction. Most films classed as sci-fi just feature aliens or what have you; they’re space opera, or just action movies where Americans fight off-planet enemies instead of out-of-country enemies; the kind of thing Ray Bradbury termed fantasy rather than sci-fi. Instead of Shooting And Blowing Up Stuff, or even comedy antics with a twist, The Man from Earth deals in Ideas.

it really is a horror movie too. There’s not just the elements of occult in the myth of the Canadian town Holmes and Watson find themselves in almost by chance, but also the way the production is staged... [Roy William Neill's] direction is incredibly atmospheric, from a wonderful mist-covered opening scene, replete with an incessantly tolling bell, to regular instances of shadow-drenched photography afterwards

Tonight sees the UK terrestrial TV premiere of Up in the Air (9pm BBC Two), so I've also added my review from last year to my new blog. You can read it here. (It should be there, anyway. If it isn't, it'll be at that link later today.)

Friday, 22 June 2012

Silk2x06 Episode 6 [season finale]I really enjoyed the first series of Silk, but I think it's been even better this year. Just fantastic stuff. How good is Maxine Peake? That first meeting with Jody Farr, the number of emotions and feelings she puts into it just by being there... Brilliant. And let's not forget Neil Stuke as Billy -- he could be a very simplistic, single-dimensioned character, but he too brings so much to the role.So glad there's going to be a third run. Long may it continue. [Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

This seemed to be all over twitter when it came out nine days ago, so it's nice to finally be able to catch up with it (Forbidden Planet (.com) may be slow at sending comics out sometimes, but the fact I can do a whole month's order for flat-rate p&p and get it delivered every week (even if it's late) is what keeps me coming back).

And wow did it deserve the hype! The Court of Owls storyline has been fantastic on the whole, and this is the start of a blinding climax (it finishes next issue). Both Snyder's writing and Capullo's art are incredible -- the issue contains three splash pages, which normally means a dearth of story, but each exists for a reason: they pack a punch, and there's more than enough plot elsewhere to make up for it. Sure, the main talking point is a final-pages revelation/twist, and that's justifiably been much-discussed, but it's the overall quality of the storytelling (from both writer and artist) that makes this exceptional. (For a spoilersome interview with Snyder discussing his thinking behind the twist, the entire story arc, and his future plans, look here.)

The Snyder/Tynion-penned, Albuquerque-drawn backup The Fall of the House of Wayne continues with its second part (of three). I wasn't sold on the first part (the backup strips in general across The New 52 have felt like a waste of space to me), but this one really sells its worth. It builds up on the backstory hinted at in the main strip, making it feel an essential part of the story.

Another big, much-discussed comic. DC's summer event begins here. Well, I say summer event -- it's 35 issues (across seven miniseries) and will go on until the end of January. Not so summery. But it is a big, controversial event, for all kinds of reason that have been discussed to death across the internet, so I shan't be going into them here.

Personally, I really enjoyed this issue. Cooke's art is perfectly suited to a classic-styled '30s/'40s book, and the typical-Watchmen hard-edge (criminals pissing themselves, heroes paying off the cops, explicit swearing, etc) undercuts it nicely. Plus his compositions are visually arresting, making it a joy to behold all round. Phil Noto's colours compliment this perfectly.

Then Cooke's storytelling is very good to boot. This is clearly the very beginning of a multi-part tale -- but that's fine, so is the original Watchmen. Here he introduces each of the eight Minutemen one by one. Some get more time than others, suggesting relative importance, but with just six issues and so many characters that's always going to happen. And nonetheless, it feels longer than the usual modern 20-page book. That's partly because it's 26 pages, but still, it's super.

It's hard to judge an entire comic objectively on what is almost entirely setup for the rest of the story -- that hasn't stopped some laying into it, apparently forgetting that Watchmen was a longer tale told in smaller parts too. I think this is a solid opening with much promise, even if the ending is a bit unclear (is that supposed to be a cliffhanger? If so, how so?), and I look forward to the rest. Wise decision by DC to start here, I feel.

Linking the 35 issues together in their publication order is backup strip The Curse of the Crimson Corsair: The Devil in the Deep...! (to give the full title as rendered in the book), by Len Wein and John Higgins, included in two-page chunks. Whether there will be multiple Crimson Corsairs stories or it's 70 pages of The Devil in the Deep, I don't know.

This is less successful than the main story, unfortunately. If it's meant to be a contemporaneous comic (as readers may remember, in the Watchmen universe the presence of real-life heroes meant pirate comics were the most popular genre, not superheroes) then the art & colouring is far too modern. Even if it isn't, it's scuppered by only being two pages long -- that's nothing like enough to get a feel or tell a good chunk of story. It attempts to nonetheless, meaning it's stuffed with dialogue boxes instead of telling the story through art. Presumably it will somehow end up commenting on the main story, much like Tales of the Black Freighter did in the original, though how that's supposed to happen when it's spread across seven separate miniseries I don't know.

Thursday, 21 June 2012

No Ordinary Family1x20 No Ordinary Beginning [series finale]Thank God that's over! Though after a typically dreadful episode they managed to find a cliffhanger-ish ending that made the next series look almost enticing. That said, while the potential new direction had promise, they'd probably have fluffed it in their usual fashion. It's no loss.

Andrew Sarris and the “A” Wordby Richard Brody(from The Front Row at The New Yorker)American film critic Andrew Sarris died yesterday. To be frank, I'd never heard of him. This tribute explains why I really should have, as well as discussing his abiding influence on all English-language film criticism. I have mixed feelings when it comes to auteur theory, but this piece almost convinces me I should just go along with it.

Hollywood: A Love Storyby Clive James(from the Atlantic)Clive James is in the news at the minute because of his terminal illness. Related to that, someone posted this article by him on twitter, as proof that reviews/criticism can be art in themselves. It's a very lengthy read, but you can see what that tweeter meant. Partly it's because the piece is not merely a "should you buy this?" review but also a riposte to the book it's covering. It works for the reader because, even if you've not read the text it comments on, it has something new and interesting to say.

Tuesday, 19 June 2012

No Ordinary Family1x18 No Ordinary AnimalOh yes, that's right! Six months after I last watched it and a year or more since it was cancelled, I've returned for the final three episodes of this. I will finish it, goddammit.It's even more laughable than I remembered. Which is probably to the benefit of Once Upon a Time, because for all that programme's numerous faults, it is better than this.

Looking forward to this. It's the third and final volume of Century, and I've been saving up the other two ever since they were published to read it all in one go (and the first was released in May 2009!) After several days of having it locked into "dispatching soon", Amazon sent mine this evening. So only a couple of days to go...

Monday, 18 June 2012

Never Mind the Buzzcocks21x10 Episode 10 [2nd watch]21x11 Episode 11 [2nd watch]More quite-old-repeat viewing courtesy of Dave. I've very definitely seen this series. My favourite bit was the band I've never heard of who the NME said were going to be big in 2008 (the year these first went out). Clearly, they were very wrong.

Playhouse Presents1x03 Nixon's The One!15th April, 19th May, 18th June -- I'm watching these pretty precisely at once a month. Ought to step that up considering there's 11 of them.This one was... weird. Not sure what to make of it, to be honest. Is it really based on real tapes (which they reiterated twice with no kind of retraction note at the end), or is it a complete spoof? I couldn't be sure. It wasn't especially dramatic, but I didn't really laugh either. And it's getting a full-series spin-off too! Bizarre.

Silk2x05 Episode 5Despite starting this significantly through its run, I've now caught up -- because it's great. The finale's on Wednesday, which means if you haven't watched it yet the whole series will be available on iPlayer for another nine days.[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

"The headlines almost write themselves – “Alan Moore says Harry Potter is the Antichrist!” – yet they miss the point."

...The editors at the paper, however, have run a separate more prominent piece by one Paul Bignell, playing up the more salacious aspects of the story, just as Laura suggested they might. Their headline?

Saturday, 16 June 2012

How I Met Your Mother7x17 No PressureJust as I thought, "oh good, they've finally put the Ted-Robin thing to bed forever, finally", they went and had that final scene with Marshall. Dammit.[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

HMV's 20% off Blu-rays offer last weekend saw plenty of stuff ordered by yours truly. Most of it was pre-orders (why not take advantage for stuff you're going to end up buying anyway, eh?), but a few things already out, which have naturally turned up in the intervening days. The 43 TV episodes are courtesy of a complete Press Gang box set from Network's Jubilee sale.

Friday, 15 June 2012

Mad Men5x13 The Phantom [season finale]Alongside episode 12 I posted an interview with series creator Matthew Weiner in which he not only discussed the season so far but promised to talk to them again after the finale. And he did, and that's here. There's also Digital Spy's verdict on the finale here.As various people have noted, this a very low-key finale, but still high-quality. Less of a cliffhanger ending than they've made the last few years, but I'm always excited for more Mad Men anyway.

Romanzo Criminale1x12 Episode 12 [season finale]Or as I like to call it, the Romanzo Crimfinale! ...I'll get my coat.Helluvan ending, though. Even more excited for the second series now.

Thursday, 14 June 2012

Once Upon a Time1x09 True NorthAn episode about Hansel and Gretel. You can tell because they suddenly call each other by name when the writer decided it was time for the reveal. That's just one of an endless stream of unintentionally laughable moments this episode. After quite liking the last episode, this is crashing back to the series' usual standard. Below it, even.[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Romanzo Criminale1x10 Episode 101x11 Episode 11I nearly gave up on this, when it had been over six months since I watched an episode and there was 10 hours of it filling needed space on my V+ box; but I'm glad I chose to watch it rather than just delete it, because it's bloody good stuff. Now I'll join the ranks of people (see the comments at the series link above) hoping Sky Arts show the second (and final) series before too long. After I've watched the last episode of this one, of course.

So, #7 was a bit blah -- talky talky middle; ongoing plots treading water -- until a helluva twist at the end. Simone seems to specialise in those -- there's another biggie at the end of #8 for starters. That issue's better, dealing with the ending of #7 giving it more of an emotional kick, not to mention backstory-mystery-solving kinda stuff.

Grotesque is a wasted villain though -- he's a good idea thrown away as background for a story about his henchman. Still, maybe someday someone will dig him out and do something with him -- that's what happens in the never-ending serial of interconnected superhero comics, right?

Also, it's a nice touch of the series that people keep calling her "Batwoman". Clever.

DC's primary book for this year's Free Comic Book Day, containing a 14-page Justice League story written by Johns and illustrated by about a dozen different pencillers/colourers/etc. Well, it's kind of a "whole DCU" story really, but that's essentially what Justice League is, so it counts as that. It's all tease and setup and backstory, but I imagine what it sets up will be Very Important sometime next year.

The comic is fleshed out with 12 pages of previews for the six new books in The New 52's second wave. That just means a couple of excerpts, which is better than the usual issue-one-cover-plus-release-date that DC uses for adverts at the minute, but doesn't amount to much content-wise.

A one-and-done (before next issue starts the next Big Story). Well, I say one-and-done -- more one-and-stop-quite-abruptly-without-really-concluding. But it will have cheered up some diehard fans wondering why Martian Manhunter isn't on the team, so at least they'll be appeased. Shame that the sudden end undercuts it though, because everything up to that point is good fun. And I must say, I like D'Anda's art better than Jim Lee's. I'm beginning to concur with those who say he's overrated.

Plus the second part of dull backup strip Shazam!, written by Johns and drawn by Gary Frank. 10 pages of domestic drama -- what?

Still, it's a solid crossover: lots of fighting, some plot developments. The first issue is mostly the former, the second issue more the latter, making it the better half. It ends up with the Suicide Squad having Mitch's right hand (while he's grown a new one, of course) and his current ally Kim Rebecki having a Suicide Squad-controlled bomb placed in her neck for future leverage. What's unclear is if these are future plot points for Resurrection Man or Suicide Squad or both or neither. Hopefully the solicitations will highlight it if there's going to be relevant crossover again...

Tuesday, 12 June 2012

Mad Men5x12 Commissions and FeesAnother incredible episode. Personally I've enjoyed the entire season (as I was saying last time), but it really feels like they're pulling out all the stops towards the end.Now that I've reached the penultimate episode, I'll also share this spoiler-riddled interview with creator Matthew Weiner, which looks back at the season so far and explains some things. Very interesting stuff for fans, but if you're even further behind than me do beware -- it has huge spoilers for this episode.

Marvel's semi-controversial Point One series reaches Daredevil. It's designed to present potential readers with a standalone jumping-on point and taster of the series, but has been criticised for producing books that are inessential, too essential, or don't actually reflect the regular series very well. You can't win I guess.

This one... well, it's certainly not a one-and-done, being very much the next step in Daredevil's ongoing storyline about a harddrive containing vital information on all five of the Marvel U's biggest criminal organisations. It begins with some new-reader-friendly recaps, but nothing more than you could put in a regular issue -- this is Daredevil #11 in all but name; a regular issue with a number that highlights they've made concessions to allow new readers to begin here. Which I suppose makes sense really, though wouldn't they have been better off playing the "jump on here!" at the end of this big arc?

Other than that, I'm no fan of Pham's art. It just doesn't work for me. The book's regular pair of pencillers had been doing good, if kind of simplistically old-fashioned, stuff all run; Pham seems to be in the same ballpark, but it's kind of rougher in a way that doesn't click for me. Unfortunately he's back in a bit for the pivotal #13.

A three-part crossover spanning... well, the above books. Despite ending with Daredevil, it's actually the next step in that book's ongoing story, related to the harddrive I was on about above.

It's a proper epic-feeling crossover, justifying the use of three heroes and the (apparent) climax to Daredevil's big plot. Checchetto's art is awesome too, even in spite of some copy-and-pasted panels and an unclear ending to The Punisher issue. Though even he can't make the cheap-'50s-sci-fi-B-movie-style costumes of the criminal organisations look any good. Nonetheless, more from him, please... but I think he's the regular artist on Punisher, so I guess I won't get it. Hey-ho.

For more detail on the thinking behind this crossover, see the two-part pre-event interview with the writers from Marvel.com: first Mark Waid, then Greg Rucka.

Monday, 11 June 2012

Once Upon a Time1x08 Desperate SoulsBy focussing on far and away the show's best element, Robert Carlyle, they managed to produce a pretty good episode. Surprising.That said, apparently jumping forward a fortnight from last episode's major death absents every character from really having to deal with it. What a cop out (pun not intended).[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Romanzo Criminale1x06 Episode 6For a serialised drama this feels like a pretty standalone episode -- it's The One Where They're In Prison -- until the final few minutes whip out a bunch of elements that better tie it to everything else, with plot turning points as well as thematic elements. Nicely done.

Here's something fans have debated/dreamed about for decades, finally made reality thanks to the coincidence of the comics licence for both properties residing with IDW: a Doctor Who/Star Trek crossover, with a nice unwieldy title thanks to them choosing Next Gen for the Trek bit plus licenced comics' constant need to give things a subtitle. Apparently it's selling by the bucketload, as you'd expect for something joining two such huge franchises, even if people hadn't been discussing it as a pipe dream for so long.

As a Doctor Who fan, it's not the greatest dream realisation ever. It's telling that it's penned by regular Trek scribes Scott & David Tipton, with IDW's regular Who writer Tony Lee "helping"; and it's no coincidence that Trek comes first in the title. That's partly to do with sales (IDW aren't allowed to directly sell Who comics in the UK, due to DWM's licence, but arranging the title thusly means it falls under their Trek licence, which can be sold over here), but as an American company I imagine they see the Trek element as a far bigger point. Hey-ho.

But all that said, this is actually mostly Who. Indeed, it's the Trek fans who are liable to be disappointed. It starts all Trek-y, with the invasion of A Generic Federation Planet, but most of the issue is taken up with an adventure in ancient Egypt for the Doctor, Amy and Rory. Then a final-page shot features a couple of TNG cast members. And that's your lot. This is going to be an eight-issue series so I'm sure they're playing the long game, and that'll be fine in the inevitable collected edition, but as a monthly series of instalments that structure leaves it lacking in the crossover element the title promises. Judging how well this long-anticipated meeting of franchises actually works in practice will have to wait for later issues, then.

One observation, however. Though it's resulted in that daftly long title, choosing Next Gen has a practical advantage: that's where the Borg originated, and as the Borg are more-or-less the same concept as the Cybermen (albeit invented a couple of decades later -- in your face, Trek), they're the obvious choice for a villain team-up in this franchise team-up.

The Tiptons pretty well nail the Who characters. The Trek section is full of awkward po-faced dialogue, so I guess they've nailed that too. The main way their writing lets the reader down is in decompression. It's taken to daft heights here, with whole pages given over to exciting action like Rory knocking over a vase. Seriously. The amount of wasted space is astonishing. And Woodward's painted-style art does little to make up for it. It's relentlessly photo-referenced when it comes to recognisable faces, and Generic Extra Cast Members are scruffily rendered.

A bit of a let down for a first issue, then. We'll see how it goes, but unless the pace of the story can pick up a bit, I fear it's going to be relentlessly disappointing.

Sunday, 10 June 2012

Mad Men5x11 The Other WomanWow. Stunning episode in so many ways. One of my favourite bits was a perfectly-executed twist, and it wasn't even at the end of the episode! And that final scene between Don and Peggy...All those saying this season hasn't been up to standard are so, so wrong.

Romanzo Criminale1x05 Episode 5Might be the best episode yet -- things move apace, and surprisingly in places, and a big cliffhanger ending too.

Created by BOOM! Studios' Editor-in-Chief Matt Gagnon but for whatever reason handed to Brit Spurrier to actually write, Extermination (which I keep calling Extinction for some reason) is set in a post-alien-invasion world where superheroes and supervillains must team up to fight the invaders, plus flashbacks to the pre-destroyed world and their regular superhero-y lives.

It's all good fun, actually. The characters are entertainingly written, with a fun and banter-some relationship. Spurrier gets to play with superhero cliches (the good guy, Nox, is Batman in all but name and bat-ears) and sci-fi ones too, like using silly made-up words but having one character question why they're using such a silly made up word. Edwards' art is more than up to Spurrier's writing, detailing both typical superhero action and the post-apocalyptic alien-stuff just as well, with a slight cartoony edge that suits the tone.

I don't read enough indy-ish comics to know if this is the kind of thing that will break out and be something people will recommend in years to come (a la Hellboy or The Walking Dead, say). Plus it has to keep this level of quality up, of course. But I hope it does because I really enjoyed it. Glad I followed Bleeding Cool's recommendation (in fact, I liked it even more than they did).

If you’ve seen the trailer you know there’s a bit where they fall out of a plane in a tank. Then they battle with fighter jets from this free-falling tank... As I see it, your reaction to that tank bit in the trailer will dictate your reaction to the whole film: if you thought it looked bloody stupid, extrapolate; if you thought it looked frickin’ cool, extrapolate; if you thought, like me, that it looked enjoyably far-fetched, extrapolate.

Eli starts off with the potential for an arty 5; slips slightly to a solid 4 when the standard post-apocalyptic trope of a gang fighting for local power comes in to play; unsteadies that 4 with an increasingly atonal second half; and quite frankly borders a 1 with its sickening ending.

Saturday, 9 June 2012

Vera2x03 SandancersITV screened this episode out of sequence due to real-life events (it concerns, in part, a death in Afghanistan), but the advantage of catching up later is I can put it back where it belongs. Not that it really matters.[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Here we go, then: super-mega-event-crossover AvX hits the usually-brilliant WatXM for the next few months. Has this involvement ruined it? Well, things start off fine. There's plenty of unavoidable AvX stuff, but the book's own ongoing stories continue and the tone remains the same -- lots of good laughs in #9, for instance.

But there's a shift as it goes through #10, and by #11 it's in full-on part-of-the-event mode. #9 flows well enough into #10, but #11 has to open with a kind of "previously on" for things we haven't seen -- events that have taken place in other books that have an effect on characters covered by this one (primarily, Wolverine). It feels like skipping an issue.

Also, I've seen some complaints from fans that (despite claims from the honchos at Marvel) you can't follow AvX just by reading the main miniseries, and based on the content of WatXM #11 I can well believe this. As well as pages given over to excerpts of Avengers-on-mutants battles from around the globe, there's a significant chunk of plot with Wolverine and Hope that would seem essential to the story (says me, who's not reading AvX... yet). Unless this is all duplicated in an issue of the main series, I don't see how you could get by without reading this. Maybe I'll find out later.

WatXM's own subplots do still continue, Aaron's writing can still be good fun at times, and the art by both Bachalo and (especially, for me) Bradshaw is still enjoyable, but AvX is definitely starting to get in the way. Shame.

It has, incidentally, persuaded me that maybe I should return to Uncanny after all, if I can easily pick up the missing issues. While I presume that has become similarly embroiled in the Big Damn Crossover, I also presume it has similarly continued its own story threads, and I was being interested by them.

Friday, 8 June 2012

Romanzo Criminale1x03 Episode 3I watched the firsttwo episodes of this back in November, but then it kind of fell by the wayside. I've got loads (and loads and loads) of TV catching up to do at the minute, but this one is taking up a phenomenal amount of space on my V+ box (most other stuff is downloaded one way or another) so it gets priority for the moment. Fortunately I managed to pick the plot threads back up well enough.Incidentally, if you'd like to see it too, Sky Arts 1 seem to be beginning a repeat run next Wednesday. So there's a coincidence.

There are dozens of articles about this across the 'net today, each with their own little tidbits of information, but this headline sums it up best. For a follow-up piece at Bleeding Cool look here; for a lengthy interview with DC co-publisher Dan DiDio look here; and for a slightly more detailed piece on Night of the Owls spin-off Talon look here.

Wednesday, 6 June 2012

How I Met Your Mother7x15 The Burning BeekeeperAh, a good old HIMYM Structurally Complicated Episode. For all it's cleverness, it's a bit underwhelming -- too caught up in Being Clever to provide any real story for the characters. Shame.[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Silk2x01 Episode 1This is over halfway through on the TV now, I think, so about time I got going with it. It's still great.[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

First Full Trailer For Django Unchained – ON ICEby Brendon Connelly(from Bleeding Cool)This looks awesome. Normally I'd embed it (and post it as a Trailers post), but at the time of writing it's been pulled. The official release is later tonight in the US though, so it should re-appear at this link (and no doubt dozens of others) before too long.